Class-size deal expected to be ratified by teachers

President of local teachers’ union says agreement will help address underfunding of education system

A new agreement between B.C. teachers and the provincial government will greatly improve education by adding more teachers and decreasing class sizes, says the head of the local teachers’ union.

“Our classrooms are full of students with individual needs,” said Susan Bauhart, president of the Central Okanagan Teachers’ Association. “When you have smaller class sizes, it allows teachers to offer more support for children in their classes.”

The deal between the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and the government restores language from a 2002 agreement calling for smaller class sizes.

Union members are voting this week on whether or not to accept the agreement.

“I am confident this is going to be ratified,” said Bauhart. “This has been a 15-year battle, and finally there’s some resolution. At the local level, we’ve already started discussions on how this is going to roll out, and we’re very pleased.”

A the beginning of the school year, there were 1,213 teachers in the Central Okanagan, said Bauhart.

In January, the province announced $50 million in funding to hire 1,100 teachers across B.C.

Locally, 52 teachers were hired following the funding increase.

“We’re well over 1,250 (teachers) now, and that’s teachers in the classrooms; then we have our (substitute teachers), so I have to say we have between 1,400 and 1,500 teachers,” said Bauhart.

The Central Okanagan is the fifth largest school district in the province.

“Our system has been underfunded for many years,” said Bauhart.

“The district here . . . has struggled with having enough funds to run the programs that we feel are needed here. This (agreement) will go a long way to remedying that.” Voting ends on Friday. “I’m just thrilled that public education is being looked after the way it should be,” said Bauhart.

The agreement is expected to impact the local education budget, which the Central Okanagan school district is in the midst of planning, said Larry Paul, secretary-treasurer of the district.

“My assumption is the vote is going to be ratified by the union,” said Paul. “Because we expect that language to be approved by both parties, we’re now planning our budget based on that reinstated language.”

For example, the budget will have to reflect the decision to add more teachers, he said.

“We’re still doing a little shooting in the dark figuring out what our local number will be,” said Paul. “It will be much clearer come the (provincial) financial announcement, and we’ll have a chance to churn through it over spring break.”